


Seafaring Stories

by Complete_Otakuness



Series: Dr. STONE Week (June 28 - July 4) [3]
Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Day Three - Exploration, Dr. STONE Week 2020, Lost Village, Pirate AU, late post
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25177507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Complete_Otakuness/pseuds/Complete_Otakuness
Summary: After sailing through a storm, making a horrifying find, and sort-of saving an entire village, Ryusui needed a drink.A late post but one that I'm super proud of because so far it's my longest one shot.
Relationships: Francois & Nanami Ryuusui, Hanada Nikki & Nanami Ryuusui, Ogawa Yuzuriha/Ooki Taiju, Saionji Ukyou & Nanami Ryuusui
Series: Dr. STONE Week (June 28 - July 4) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807699
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13
Collections: Dr. Stone Week 2020





	Seafaring Stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



The breeze of cool sea air felt amazing on Ryusui’s haggard face as he stepped out of the captain’s cabin. They had just docked in a small town for the afternoon to stock up on supplies and enjoy a few drinks at a local bar. Maybe swap tales or information with other sailors, pick up some girls to have fun with, him and his crew didn’t care. After the few months spent at sea, everyone was itching to be back on dry land and not have to worry about seasickness or storms that threatened to capsize the ship.

As he shouted out the command to unload the trading goods, Ryusui sighed and turned to his first mate. “Francois, take over for me. I’m going to grab a beer somewhere and relax.” He pointed his thumb towards the town in front of him and Francois nodded.

“As you wish, Captain.” And with that, Francois walked away from Ryusui to direct the rest of the crew. Walking down the plank that led to the dock, he surveyed the town in front of him. Despite the fact that it had few people, it was very busy. Ladies buying bread and pastries from bakeries, children chasing birds in the street, families shopping at the local market, and best of all: men enjoying beer in front of a tavern.

Zeroing in on it, Ryusui made his way over and opened the door. A bell rang above him, signaling his arrival just a little louder than the conversations and laughter of the few groups inside. Walking straight to the bar, Ryusui plopped down on a stool and waved down the bartender.

“Whaddya want?” The woman with braids walked over after serving another customer a few seats away. 

“Other than a beauty like you? A whiskey,” he replied nonchalantly. The woman scoffed but had a small smile on her face when she handed Ryusui his mug. He took a sip and sighed with relief as a slight burn made its way down his throat. He needed to unwind after his time at sea, after the things he’d seen.

“So, what happened to make you so worn? You’re almost like an old man.” Ryusui looked up to see the bartender next to him, leaning on her arm. 

“I’m not sure what you mean. Do I really look that tired?” The woman smirked in a way that said ‘yes, yes you do.’

“You’ve had your fair share of adventures, huh?”

“Yeah, I have. I’ve seen the most amazing and terrible things ever known to man and I have to tell you, it’s not pretty. For example...” Ryusui leaned back in his seat, taking a long drink from his mug. This was gonna be a long one.

********************************************************************************************************

As an expert of the open waters and their weather patterns, Ryusui was shocked to see a storm looming over his ship. It seemingly appeared out of thin air.

“Captain!” Ukyo called from the crows nest.

Nodding to him, Ryusui yelled, “Steady the sails! We’ll have to go through!”

“Aye!” The crew answered in sync, then they all got to work. They trusted that Ryusui knew what he was doing, even if the incoming tempest sent a wave of apprehension through them.

The wind was the first to start howling, the rain screaming right after. Barrels and crates, along with some sleeping men, were thrown back and forth violently in the lower decks, same with the pirates manning the ship above.

It was a struggle just to keep the ship moving, with monstrous waves crashing over the ship and pummeling the crew. After a particularly huge one, even Ryusui couldn’t keep his grip on the helm. He was tossed to the deck and shoved near the edge, near the roaring waves. 

Just when he was bracing himself for another torrent of water, the shrieking of the storm began to fade a little. The rain constantly pelting on his face stopped, being replaced by a thick fog. Shakely standing, Ryusui surveyed the situation. Most of his crew were laying on the deck, groaning in pain and looking worn. The only other person standing, even though they looked about to pass out, was Francois. Ryusui nodded to them and they wobbled into a -surprisingly graceful- bow. This brought a smirk to his face, Francois was still composed as ever.

As the crew began to exhaustedly sit up one by one, Ryusui looked ahead at the bow of the ship. A shadow slowly loomed into existence through the mist. It drifted into the shape of a small island with another sticking out of the sea behind it. In the far background, a much larger mainland sat. There seemed to be the scattered buildings of a small village on the isles but as the pirates’ ship sailed closer, Ryusui couldn’t seem to make out any of the movement a settlement usually had. The vessel skirted around the village and stopped a short ways away from the mainland.

“Everyone stay here until further command. Ukyo shall accompany me. Francois, help everyone recuperate,” Ryusui’s orders were short and clipped. There was something off about all of this and it had him on edge. 

“Yes sir,” Francois answered and Ukyo walked over to where the rowboats were kept and chose one of the two that had survived the violent storm. He jumped in and Ryusui followed, picking up the oars that sat underneath the seats of the boat. Ukyo then lowered the boat to the water with the pulleys attached and, once floating, he released them.

Ryusui began to row, and while he was doing so, Ukyo looked at him. “Am I the only one feeling uneasy about this?”

“Huh?” Ryusui answered shakily, immersed in his anxiety.

“So you feel it too?” Ukyo caught on to his emotions fairly easily. He was pretty perceptive after all.

“Yeah, there’s something in the air that sends chills through my bones.” As if to prove his point, Ryusui shivered. After a short period of silence, they banked and climbed out of their rowboat. The mainland was heavily forested but there was a small building that was just tall enough to be seen above the treetops. Ryusui started towards it and Ukyo silently followed, both on guard and ready to reach for the pistols at their waists or swords at their thighs if need be.

Reaching the clearing where the building was would probably be the most shocking thing either of them would ever see in their lives. It seemed to have once been a workplace for god-knows-what but now it was a morbid art gallery. For stone people. The expressions were all the same for the most part. Images of terror, shock, and grief. 

There was a face that peaked out from the doorway of the tall building, a worn ladder leading to the entrance. His face was that of surprise, being unable to look away from a point in the sky. A little girl stood at the foot of the ladder, a slightly rotting melon helmet covering most of her face but Ryusui could still see her mouth open in astonishment. She too was staring up at the sky. Glancing around, they all were. Or, rather, most of them were. 

A short man who appeared to be guarding the bridge with another man was cowering, shielding his head. His partner was pointing a golden spear at the heavens in a desperate attempt to ward something off though he was clearly scared. An oddly buff old man and a skinny young one with uneven hair were looking up from what looked like an oven to stare, quite literally frozen, at the fog overhead. Next to the pair was a tall male with shoulder length hair who was caught in a silent cry of battle with raised fists and a young woman with twin daggers gripped in her hands. She was looking at the center of the clearing, most likely for guidance, to the last statue.

He was the strangest out of them all. His hair was standing straight up, as if it was more scared than anyone out of the group and his hands were clenched. But the emotion on his face was that of grim acceptance. The face of someone prepared for his end but refused to die. The face of determination. He was glaring intensely at the air above and even though his jaw was firmly set, he was screaming. Ryusui backed up from closely studying the statue’s expression and glanced over to Ukyo.

Catching his eye, Ukyo spoke, “These… They’re not real, right? They look so realistic.” Ryusui turned back to the stone in front of him and gave the statue a onceover. 

“I don’t think so. Someone probably just wanted to sculpt something with lots of emotion. I’ve seen many artists with the skill to do so.” Even after saying that, Ryusui barely believed himself. Ukyo probably didn’t either. It wasn’t like he was lying when he said he saw skilled artists. But none of them would ever make something this horrific. But then how? How did these statues get here? Was it even possible to turn someone to stone?

“Captain, should we continue?” Ukyo looked as if he just wanted to escape the hell they had stumbled upon.

Ryusui nodded, “Yes. We should check out the rest of the village.”

The rest of the village wasn’t much different from the clearing on the other side of a bridge that was falling apart. Children holding onto their mothers, men gripping their wives or pointing at the sky with outstretched fingers or weapons. The furthermost island looked to be an arena of sorts, with a maybe-throne over to the right side. A woman who looked very much alike to the one found in the clearing was staring worriedly at the foggy horizon and two guards on either side were stabbing their spears into the air threateningly.

Ryusui turned from the view of horror and quietly uttered, “We should be getting back.” With not even a glance back, the two walked back, over the bridge, and through the once busy clearing to the trees. Back to the rowboat and away from the ghostly nightmare that was the small village. Stepping into the boat, Ryusui picked up the oars to catch a glimpse of stony gray in his peripheral vision. Slowly getting up, he walked tentatively to the line of trees diagonally to his right. He might’ve heard Ukyo call out to him but he was already preparing himself for what he might see next. 

Past the first row of trees, there were two other statues. A man who was built for endurance and a woman with dexterous fingers and a white headband. They had fallen to their sides, the poses their bodies were in let Ryusui know that they were trying to run to the village. There were satchels at their hips and a few ceramic bottles clutched in their hands. Slightly hoping that there was booze in them, Ryusui bent down and took one out of the man's hand and uncorked it. Sniffing it, he wrinkled his nose at the foul scent and sighed.

“Why did we come here in the first place?!” In a short moment of frustration, Ryusui threw the bottle down. It hit the woman’s arm and smashed to pieces, the yellow tinted liquid spilling over her. He turned around and started stomping back to the boat. Why did him and his crew have to endure a terrible storm just for a lifeless village with horrid statues everywhere they looked? What had they- Ryusui stopped. Froze, actually. He wasn’t imagining it, right? He really heard that?

A cracking sound began to fill the air, and by then he knew he didn’t just think it up. Slowly, Ryusui turned his head at the noise to see something else he thought was the most shocking thing of his life. Stone fragments began to fall off of the very real skin of the woman. She sluggishly moved her arm and then her eyes shot wide open as she sat up quickly. Not even seeing Ryusui, she turned to the man laying on the ground next to her and uncorked the bottle that she had been holding in her other hand.

As the woman tipped it over her companion she started praying, “Please, please work. I hope we got the ratio correct. Oh, wake up Taiju.” After the liquid ran out, she stood up and took a few steps back. A period of silence passed before the stone covering Taiju’s body broke away too. The woman cheered a little as she watched her partner wake up. He quickly scrambled up and once he saw the woman, his serious expression turned to that of pure joy. 

“Yuzuriha!” He yelled and pulled her into a tight hug and she giggled. 

Feeling completely lost and awkward, Ryusui coughed a bit. “Um, that’s great but…” He trailed off, not really knowing how to continue. The pair pulled apart flushing but their elated expressions soon morphed into serious ones.

Yuzuriha stepped forward and said, “We have to get this Miracle Fluid to the village. Thank you for saving us but we’ll explain later. Or, rather, another of our friends will.” She motioned to Taiju and began jogging off. Taiju looked over to Ryusui and nodded to him before following his partner.

“Well, should we follow them? I mean, the stuff in those bottles seem to be able to free people from their stone prisons. They did call it Miracle Fluid after all.” Ryusui turned to see Ukyo walking out from behind a tree.

“You heard that huh?” Seeing him incline his head, Ryusui smirked. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Maybe I’ll get a reward for being their savior.” Ukyo blew out a breath and took off with his captain toward the village.

When the pirates got to the clearing soon after Yuzuriha and Taiju, the partners had already set to work emptying their bottles. Yuzuriha was pouring hers on the two at the strange ovens and Taiju had made a beeline to the man in the middle of the group -the one with the tall hair- and was waiting impatiently for the stone to break off. Which after a moment, it did. To which Taiju immediately threw his arms around his unsuspecting friend.

The man let out a strangled yell and tried to worm his way out of the embrace while shouting, “Get the hell off of me you big oaf! It’s not like I’ve been gone for a thousand years! It’s only been about six months!”

Taiju only sobbed loudly and squeezed him tighter. “BUT THAT’S SO LONG!!! I CAN’T EVEN IMAGINE YOU BEING GONE FOR A THOUSAND YEARS!!!”

Finally wriggling out of Taiju’s grasp, the leek-haired man rolled his eyes while keeping his friend at an arm's length. “Oh please, I’ve been gone for a year before. How’s that any shorter than six months?”

“B-BUT IT WAS HORRIBLE!” 

“Yeah, yeah.” The man glanced over to where Yuzuriha was watching with a joyful but exasperated expression. Their eyes met and they bobbed their heads in greeting and sighed at Taiju’s extreme emotions. Then all three looked to the old man and the skinny man who had gotten over their initial surprise and smiled over to them.

The skinny dual-toned haired man walked leisurely over to the trio and put on a sweet smile, “Well well Senku-chan. It seems your friends really did pull through, even if it took a while.”

Senku smirked, “They sure did. Though, I must say, I wasn’t expecting them to get caught in the blast too. It must’ve had a larger radius than I initially suspected.”

Taiju nodded vigorously saying, “Yeah! And we would’ve been stuck like that if it wasn’t for that guy!” and pointed to Ryusui who had been silently spectating with Ukyo.

“Is that so? More help will be much appreciated in reviving the village. I doubt you and Yuzuriha brought enough Miracle Fluid for everyone, correct?”

“Yeah, we brought as much as we could. We couldn’t fit much in our bags.” Taiju’s mood dampened a bit but Senku shook his head.

“No, you did your best. Besides, now we have enough time to put everything back in order before we revive the village.”

The old man cracked his neck, “I think getting petrified took more energy out of me than I thought. I’m too old to keep up with you youngsters.”

This made a chuckle ring out from Senku and he smirked, “What? You’re not excited to make sturdier houses, Kaseki? What about a transportation device that doesn’t require a living being to power it?” 

At the second one, Kaseki’s eyes lit up and his muscles somehow became even more defined, “You’re right! I can’t stop here!” This made both Gen and Yuzuriha let out quiet laughs. 

“Let’s get to work!” At Senku’s order, the three each grabbed a bottle from either Taiju or Yuzuriha’s bags and began dumping the contents on the others. Ryusui and Ukyo watched in amazement at the event that was taking place right in front of them. The village that had been lifeless not even an hour ago was now starting to put itself back together.

The two paused in their gawking to see Senku walk up to them, two bottles in his hands. He handed one to each of them before saying, “You started this, now you have to finish it.”

Ryusui grinned and said, “I had better be rewarded after this.” He walked over to the two guards at the bridge and poured the Miracle Fluid on the one with the golden spear, Ukyo doing the same with the man cowering on the ground. A cut-off battle cry erupted from the man as he followed through with his delayed spear strike before he realised what was happening. He then turned to Ryusui and thanked him humbly.

A not-so similar reaction happened with Ukyo. When he had revived his guard, the man had just sat trembling and crying until Ukyo reached down and patted his shoulder comfortingly. The blond cautiously looked up and once he saw Ukyo, he stood up and grabbed his hand, shaking it and saying so many ‘thank you’s that they turned into a huge jumble.

Across the clearing, someone shouted “BAAADDDD” and they leaped out of the hut to ask Senku ten billion questions. The man just answered most with a simple “I don’t know” but when the other asked how long they had been petrified Senku had given the same time he had with Taiju.

“A little over six months.”

“But how do you know?”

“I counted.” A simple thing, counting is. 

“But six monthes of counting is just crazy!”

“What did you want me to tell you, Chrome? I just counted, that’s it.” Senku stuck his pinky in his ear.

“That’s amazing!”

********************************************************************************************************

Finishing his fifth mug, Ryusui sighed, “And after we revived some of the villagers, we left. But once they get their village back up and running, I’ll be going back to get at least some semblance of a reward. They’re not off the hook.”

The bartender was staring at him in shock before she rolled her eyes. “You can’t expect me to believe that really happened. How’d that village even get petrified in the first place? This isn’t Greek mythology.”

“It happened, whether you believe me or not. It was right in front of me and I still barely believe it. And Senku said that there was some sort of green light that turned everyone to stone, not a snake-haired lady. He knew it was coming but couldn’t prevent it so he told Taiju and Yuzuriha to make a lot of Miracle Fluid so they could be revived right after. But they were too close to the village and got petrified too.” Ryusui handed the bartender his empty mug.

Wiping out the inside with a wet rag she said, “You know, a lot of sailors and pirates come through this town telling crazy stories about mermaids and ghost ships but yours has definitely got to be the craziest. If that village out in the middle of the ocean is real, though, I’d like to see it with my own eyes.”

Ryusui smirked, leaving money on the table before standing up and walking out, “I just hope you can find a good enough ship to survive the storm. It seems like it never leaves that one spot and creeps up on you when you least expect it.”

The woman grinned in response and called, “Maybe I’ll just hitch a ride on yours.”

“We’ll see.” And with that, the pirate left the tavern feeling a little lighter and less tired. He would feel much better after some sleep in something other than a hammock though.

**Author's Note:**

> Finally done and hopefully it doesn't feel too rushed, I wasn't sure where to leave off.


End file.
